Speech by the Chief Executive Officer at the AI Global Talents Connect (26 August 2025)

As the Patient Capital institution wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government, the HKIC adopts an “Investment +” approach.  For us, investment is more than an action of bringing medium to long term financial return.  It is in fact dearest to our heart that by investment, we are creating and supporting new growth impetus such as innovation and technology (“I&T”), with a view to bringing benefits to the economy and society of Hong Kong.  As of today, we have invested in more than 120 projects, of which 2 companies are already listed in Hong Kong.  In addition, more than 10 companies have either submitted or planned to submit their applications for listing in Hong Kong this year.  Also, our strategic partners and investee companies are bringing value to Hong Kong in different ways such as renting office spaces, hiring talents, creating and registering IPs, closely working with local universities to set out joint labs or conduct joint researches, to name but a few.  In fact, every Hong Kong dollar invested by the HKIC has attracted over five Hong Kong dollars from long-term capital in the market for investment.  

This forms the backdrop of the AIC, which naturally weaved in 3 important elements for I&T investment and development, namely “AI”, “Global” and “Talents Connect”.  

AI

First on “AI” which is one of the HKIC’s key investment areas noting its disruptive nature affecting all walks of life and tremendous market potential.  I think similar to me, some people may have started to be interested to learn more about AI years ago when AlphaGo, the AI Go player, bet Ke Jie, the 19-year-old Chinese world number one at that time, in 3 games.  What I remember today is actually not the details of those games but the fact that Ke Jie got inspirations from how AlphaGo played in these games and subsequently achieved a 22-game winning streak against human opponents.   

So I think AI is actually not about displacing human beings.  Also, AI should be relevant not only when we talk about increasing productivity and cutting costs.  For the HKIC, the real value of AI is to bring new inspirations to us on things that our society cares about or help us solve the pain points which have been bothering us, making the world a better place.  On this front, we have invested in a broad spectrum of AI companies such as AI large language model, embodied AI, cloud computing and AI drug discovery.  With that spirit, let’s engage in the discussion today and beyond, and contribute our thoughts to unlock the value of AI for the world together.  

Global

Then “Global”.  Hong Kong is very well positioned to take a leading role in facilitating AI investment and development noting our strengths as “super connector” and “super value-adder”.  In fact, our “One Country, Two Systems”, rule of law, well established capital market, free flow of data, multi-cultural environment, and supportive policy framework already made us an ideal gateway for attracting international AI talents and facilitating AI investment and development.  

Talents Connect

Lastly, “Talents Connect”.  We know from experience that whenever we put smart people in a room, amazing investment ideas will be generated!  This is what we are doing by the AIC, enabling multi-disciplinary discussion among the academic, research, industry, investment and government sectors.  

On this front, let me highlight two more points unique to the AIC.  First, in addition to the aforesaid multi-sectoral dialogues, we are promoting cross-generational dialogues.  If AI is important in shaping our future, so is our younger generation.  We have invited over 150 students from secondary schools and universities to join us today, and will always love to involve our younger generations in the HKIC’s AI journey.  Second, the HKIC is very pleased to co-organise the AIC with the BAAI which is a prestigious Mainland research and development institution focusing on AI.  We are aligned with the BAAI and are proactively contributing our respective strengths to accelerate the flywheel effect among “talent, technology and capital”.  

Closing

So let’s get started right now and put these visions into action!  I hope we will all benefit from the inspirations on global AI investment and development from the AIC.  Let’s also bring together international talents, incubate enterprises and technologies, and channel international capital to invest in these enterprises and technologies, bringing benefits to all parties involved.  Thank you.